A.—2

13

I have read this report with much interest, and trust that the labours of the Commissioners, and the legislation which may follow their recommendations, will result in the settlement at no distant period of this difficult question. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government IQMBERLEY of New Zealand.

No. 23. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimbekley to the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. (Circular No. 2.) Sir,— Downing Street, 16th October, 1880. I have the honor to transmit to you, for the information of your Government, copies of a paper which has been drawn up by Sir Joseph Hooker, Director of the Botanic Gardens at Kew, containing suggestions for the information of colonial Governments about to appoint superintendents of botanic gardens, and for the guidance of the superintendents themselves. I have communicated this paper to you as your Government may be glad to know the rules existing in the botanic gardens in the Crown colonies. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government KIMBERLEY of New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 23. Suggestions for the Information of Colonial Governments about to appoint Superintendents of Botanic Gardens, and for the Guidance of the Superintendents themselves.. The superintendent's time should be occupied by the duties of the gardens in the interests of the colony and Mother-country These duties include not merely the keep and cultivation of the plants, but correspondence with other gardens in the colony and elsewhere, and activity in procuring by means of travellers, visitors, ships' officers, &c, all plants that it may be desirable to introduce, whether for use or ornament, and botanical information generally 2. The gardens should be both useful and attractive to the general public, and should contain— (a.) A conspicuously-ticketed collection of the plants, shrubs, and trees of the colony; (b.) A collection, also Avell ticketed, of all such useful plants as can be cultivated in the colony; (c.) A collection of useful and ornamental plants for distribution, exchange, &c. 3. The superintendent should keep a catalogue of all the plants cultivated and that have been cultivated in the garden; a monthly journal of operations, which may be consulted by persons desirous of forming gardens; and a brief meteorological abstract of the mean maximum and mean minimum temperature of the month, with its humidity, clearness, or cloudiness, amount of rain, &c. He should annually prepare a report on the progress and condition of the garden, of its receipts and expenditure, donations, donors' names, and those of the more important plants distributed from it : this report should be printed by the Government. It is also desirable that the superintendent should keep an arranged and named herbarium of the flowering plants and ferns of the colony; and a public museum, containing named specimens of the colonial woods and other useful vegetable products, should be attached to every garden. 4. A library of botanical books of reference should be attached to the garden, and catalogued in duplicate; and no book should be lent out of the library on any pretext whatever. Of this catalogue one copy should be kept in the library, and the other should be deposited in some Government office, and these should be annually compared. The fact and date of comparison should be stated in the annual report, and all losses and additions recorded. 5. No superintendent or other officer of the garden should be permitted to sell any plants or garden produce without the written orders of the Government, nor should they be permitted for their own personal emolument to sell or trade in plants of any kind, indigenous or cultivated, nor to take apprentice or other fees.